


I wanna get it right for once

by jeffannies



Category: GLOW (TV 2017)
Genre: A nice mix of the two, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-13 03:33:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21237458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeffannies/pseuds/jeffannies
Summary: A collection of Sam/Ruth drabbles for Fictober





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based off the prompt "Now? Now you listen to me?”  
Set after S3, Sam and Ruth discuss her future.

“I think you’re right. I think I should take that directing job,” Ruth finally admits, not just out loud but to herself.

They're sitting together, both in silence, lost in thought.

She has spent a lot of the time the past month debating with herself on this very issue, weighing her pros and cons, deciding where her future in Hollywood lies. Will she ever make it as a serious actress? Or is directing really where she should be?

Honestly, she still doesn’t really know. And she doubts she'll ever have a simple answer.

And no matter how hard it is, she knows she wants to be an actor. That’s her dream. That’s her goal.

But it’s just so draining constantly feeling like you’re getting absolutely nowhere. Auditioning for anything and everything and still not being the right fit.

And GLOW has been there for her through all those anxieties of not being good enough and flipped them all on its head. And here she is, with an actual job offer, with creative license to do whatever the hell she wants… It’d be a bad idea to turn away from that now, right? Right?

“Now? Now you listen to me? It’s about fuckin’ time, Ruth,” Sam pipes up beside her. They’re sitting on his couch together, his arm is draped lazily along the back. The TV is on in the background but neither of them are paying attention. “What’s taken you so long?”

“I just… I don’t want to be a director for the rest of my life, you know? I love acting. I feel amazing when I’m on stage or in front of the camera and that's what I want. But I don’t think this is something I can turn down, you know?”

“Well you’re pretty fuckin’ good at it, I’ll tell you that. You did a damn sight more directing than me and we all know it.”

“Sam… That’s not true,” her voice is soft. He starts wondering why she’s so insecure about everything because he knows how amazing she is. She has a raw, natural talent behind the camera. And she’s annoyingly persistent, so she can get anything done. She's just what they need, even if she can't see it herself. 

Sure, it’s not acting, but it’s a job at least. No point being an actor if you can’t get a gig. Not that he'd ever say that to her face. He's not dumb.

“It is,” he says bluntly. It’s times like these, when Ruth is being relentlessly irritating and too stubborn to see his point of view, that he yearns for a cigarette or a drink or something. But he's doing better. He's making healthier lifestyle choices, he's not giving up on life just yet. Especially not when he has a great job, a great family and a great girlfriend. 

“You’d be stupid if you let that opportunity pass you by. Seriously.”

“I know,” she says, but she sounds sad. It breaks his heart a little.

He pulls her closer, his arm wrapped around her and tugging her into his torso. She smells like her fresh soap, the scent tickling his nostrils as he leans into her. “Hey, listen. Hollywood’s not goin’ anywhere.”

She sniffles, nodding her head slightly. He hates seeing her like this.

“They’ve not seen the last of Ruth Wilder.”

“You’re right,” she wipes her face with her sleeve, a small smile gracing her features. 

“I’m always right.”

So she leans up and kisses him, wiping that smug look right off his face.


	2. “Yes, I’m aware. Your point?”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s her first role since GLOW, and so he kinda has to make the effort to travel all the way to New York to go see it, even if it is some shitty play he really doesn’t want to watch.
> 
> Based off the prompt “Yes, I’m aware. Your point?”

When he goes to see her in her first off-off Broadway play, he’s not expecting anything spectacular. In all honesty, he’s expecting it to be pretty shitty. Not that he’ll tell her that.

While he loves her and will support her through anything, this low budget production of some Shakespeare shit is not his idea of a good fuckin’ time. But he’s flown all the way out here to visit her, and now he’s trapped in some armpit of a theatre with around 100 crappy plastic chairs and god, he’s kind wants to run away. Obviously he wont because he knows how much this all means to her, and he'd be a pretty shitty boyfriend if he did that.

It feels weird, foreign to him almost, calling himself her boyfriend. It feels pretty adolescent too, thinking about feelings and relationships again. And doing nice things for other people because you actually want to do them. 

It's so unlike him.

He tries to remind himself that this is Ruth, his Ruth, he’s talking about here. He can do this, for her at least. But if he’s completely honest, he kind of wishes he had some drinks so he can sit through it all without wanting to gouge his eyes out. Fuck, if only he hadn’t gone sober.

He’s got some time to kill before the show starts, so instead of sitting there twiddling his thumbs like some sort of loser, he decides to wander around. He stumbles upon a cordoned off hallway where a “no entry” sign stands, ignores it completely and follows an arrow pointing towards to the dressing rooms down the hall. 

He might as well see her while he can, seeing as she’s the whole fucking reason he’s on the other side of the country in the first place.

There’s only a few rooms down there, each with a faded star stuck on and a name jotted on top in bad handwriting. He can just about make out her name and knocks on what he assumes is the correct door, impatiently waiting for her to appear.

“Hello?” she sounds confused from behind the door. He watches the door knob twist, and then she appears. Fuck, she looks so good. “Sam? You’re not supposed to be back here!”

“Yes, I’m aware. Your point?”

“Well, why are you here? I thought you’d stop by after the show…” she starts. “Not that I’m not happy to see you… this is just so unexpected.”

“I wanted to see you. And I’d probably die from boredom out there alone.”

She’s laughing nervously, so to stop her from blabbering on about the rules and how he needs to get out of here and god knows what else she’d probably say, he pulls her in for a long, tender kiss.

She tastes like mint with a splash of Dutch courage and he can’t get enough of it. He could kiss her all night, if she’d let him. Not that she would, she's got a show to do and all that.

So eventually she pulls away, slightly distracted as she walks over to her mirror and frets over her makeup. He closes the door behind him as he followers her, watching her all too intently. He loves this view. And yeah, he's missed her a lot.

It feels weird, suddenly allowing himself to feel things. He calls it the “Ruth effect.” Not out loud or anything, but when he's alone and he's lost in thought and he finds himself daydreaming about her. 

“You excited for tonight?” He manages to say, slightly distracted by her beauty as he watches her admiring herself.

“Of course, it’s opening night!” she says, though her happy tone not enough to mask her obvious anxieties. He can see the flicker of fear in her eyes, the ways her smile doesn't quite glisten as it usually does.

“You’re gonna blow us away,” he smiles, and a moment passes before she finally smiles back at him. “Am I supposed to say break a leg or something like that?”

She nods, kisses his cheek and ushers him out, demanding he go wait in his seat like everybody else, and he wonders when he had started to properly listen to her (and even obey her) when she barks orders at him. 

-

When the play begins, he spends the first half show waiting for her to appear. And when she finally does. God, she’s incredible. He’s not even lying or bragging because that’s his girl up there, she lights up the whole freaking stage. He’s never seen her so in her element. 

God, she’s so amazing. He’s so in love with her it’s ridiculous.

And when he finally gets her back to his hotel room, after all those celebratory drinks with the young cast members and the awkward conversations with her less than polite newfound friends (“so like, how old even are you?”), he doesn’t waste time in showing his admiration for her the way he knows best.

He’s got her pinned her to the bed, his lips on hers, kissing her wildly. He feels like if he stops at this point, he’ll die. He needs her that badly. 

It’s been a while, alright?

She kisses him back with just as much enthusiasm, her cold hands reaching under his sweater and ripping it off of him.

“Thanks for coming tonight,” she whispers when his mouth finds its way to her neck, sucking on the spot that drives her crazy.

“Ruth. Not now,” he murmurs between kisses.

But still, he can’t help but smile against her skin, finally happy he gets to have her in his arms. At least until his flight back home tomorrow.

Might as well make the most of it while he can, he thinks, as his hands fumble to remove her vest.


End file.
